As football fans, we are programmed to hate change. More games? No thanks. Scrapping FA Cup replays? How dare they. Introducing the Europa Conference League? Absolutely not… hold on, unless your team can win a long-awaited trophy… then it’s excellent, actually.
Because of this mindset, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin – he’s the guy with a skinhead trim you always recognise at the draws but never remember where you know him from – was met with ridicule when he announced the new-look Champions League format.
But whisper it quietly, going into matchday eight, the new regime is going down a treat.